Arson attack on synagogue: community in fear and terror!

Arson attack on synagogue: community in fear and terror!

On Friday night, the Ripponlea Synagogue in Melbourne's south was the target of a cowardly arson attack. Witnesses report that two suspects deliberately used accelerant and smashed the windows of the church while worshipers were preparing for Sabbath morning prayers. Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann told the media that the entire community was “uncertain and afraid.” However, the emergency services were able to bring the fire under control in time before major damage could be caused. An eyewitness suffered a hand injury during the incidents, but fortunately no one else was injured. Australian anti-terror investigators are now busy analyzing surveillance camera footage to determine the identity of the perpetrators. Loud Small newspaper Israel's President Yitzhak Herzog has already expressed solidarity with the affected Jewish community and is calling for vigorous measures to combat rising anti-Semitism.

Historical parallels to the persecution of the Jews

A dark chapter in the history of the persecution of Jews was recently revisited in Germany when trials were held against Nazi criminals for the atrocities in the Riga Ghetto. In 1941, tens of thousands of Jews from the Rumbula ghetto were murdered on behalf of SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln. The massacres committed there are still an example of the National Socialists' system of mass murder and institutionalized hatred of Jews. Loud NDR Jeckeln, who was primarily responsible, was caught and executed after the war, while many other perpetrators faded into the background or remained unpunished. The trial of four people involved in the massacre shows that the discourse about these crimes continues to be important and that coming to terms with the past remains essential.